


Where Favours Get You

by allfireburns



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, Community: writerinadrawer, Gen, POV Third Person, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-26
Updated: 2009-11-26
Packaged: 2017-10-03 18:51:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allfireburns/pseuds/allfireburns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Andy always got suspicious when the word "favour" came from Gwen's mouth. AU version of "Everything Changes".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where Favours Get You

Andy's mobile rang, and he practically dove for it across his desk. There were a few scattered snickers around the room, and he glowered. Honestly, you admit one little crush and suddenly everyone's eying you and snickering.

"Gwen! Where are you?" She should've been here a half-hour ago, and Gwen wasn't often late without Andy knowing _why_.

"I'm sick," she said, voice scratchy on the other end of the line. "I just wanted to let you _know_-"

"Gwen!" Andy protested. "You're just going to leave me here?"

"Rhys won't let me out of bed. What do you want me to do?"

"Since when do you listen to what Rhys tells you?" He was getting loud, and annoyed looks. Andy sighed and stood to head out to the hall, phone still plastered to his ear.

"Well, next time there's a murder in the pouring rain, I'll try not to stand out in it so long, is that better?" Andy rolled his eyes, but Gwen went on before he could answer. "Listen, I need you to do me a favour, alright?"

Any time the word "favour" came from Gwen's mouth, Andy got suspicious. He sighed and glanced to the ceiling. Even over the phone, Gwen's silence was... eloquent. He could imagine the look on her face, the raised eyebrows and the slightly pursed lips.

"What do you need?" he sighed finally, and was slightly mollified that he could _hear_ Gwen smile on the end of the line.

"Could you check the time of death on the body last night? And ask after a Captain Jack Harkness? The man in the gray coat."

Andy considered. Thought about asking if this might be cold medicine going to her head. And finally, reluctantly, asked why.

* * *

This was the trouble doing favours for Gwen. He agreed before he knew what she wanted, and then ended up hearing about dead men coming to life and men in greatcoats and it all sounded _mad_. Andy, deciding he actually agreed with Rhys for once, told Gwen to go back to sleep and call him when she felt better.

He asked after the time of death, though, and tried to find her Captain Jack Harkness. Might as well humor the sick woman. What he got was a missing captain from World War II, and a time of death that was exactly as it should be, well before Torchwood arrived on the scene.

Andy made a mental note to thank Gwen for a waste of time.

* * *

The last thing Andy remembered was breaking up a pub fight, a broken arm - which he felt certain wouldn't have happened if Gwen were there - going to the hospital to get it set, and then... nothing. He woke up in his bed with a dry mouth and a headache, and decided he absolutely didn't want to know why.

When he got to work, Gwen was already there. Still sniffling, her desk covered in tissues, but there. "Well, we make a fine pair," Andy commented as he pulled up a chair beside her.

"I'm feeling better, and Rhys- What happened to your arm?"

"Pub brawl," he said with a sigh, glancing to the cast on his arm. "It was a hell of a day." Even if he can't remember most of it.

"Did you find anything about Jack Harkness?"

Andy stopped. Frowned. "Who?"

"Jack Harkn- Andy, you called me yesterday from the Plass! You said you found _something_..."

Andy stared at her in blank incomprehension.

* * *

_This_ was what happened when he agreed to do favours for Gwen. He ended up on the top of a building with a strange man, with a strange woman's blood dried on his hands and face. Andy looked at Jack, and then away quickly. Jack scared him, for more reasons than that he came back from the _dead_.

"Is every day like this for you?" Andy asked at length, if only because he had to say something to break the silence.

Jack chuckled, and flashed a smile that Andy caught out of the corner of his eye. "Pretty much. What do you think?"

"I think..." Andy looked over the bay, and shivered a little in the chilly morning air. He wrapped his arms tighter around himself, the cast on his arm digging into his ribs. "I think it's mad. I think you all are."

"You're joking."

Andy raised his eyebrows, actually meeting Jack's eyes for a moment.

"You're not joking. After everything you saw last night, you still-"

"Just because it's real doesn't make it any _less_ mad."

"Fair point. Still. Torchwood's got a vacancy. You could get used to it. If you're interested."

Andy looked away from him, and took a breath. The air stung, icy, and it brought him back to something resembling reality. This could be his life. Strange creatures and secrets. Darkness and walking dead. Madness, dark and wonderful and terrifying.

He opened his mouth to answer, without knowing what his response would be.


End file.
